Concerns as Naira scarcity worsens across states
Written by Olarotimi Oshin on March 11, 2023
Eight days after the Supreme Court delivered its final ruling in the lawsuit on the old banknotes and extended their validity to December 31, 2023, the scarcity of the currency still persists across the states of the federation even as many Nigerians have refused to accept the old notes following the failure of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make a pronouncement to that effect.
In some State, commercial banks have been dispensing the old N1000, N500 and N200 notes to their customers in line with the Supreme Court.
Besides, customers besiege different bank premises as early as 5.00am in some occasions in anticipation of receiving the new notes only to go home disappointed because they could not get any after waiting for hours.
Another problem is that some of the banks still reject collection of the old N500 and N1000 notes, after issuing them to customers, thereby forcing people to reject the N500 and N1000 old notes if given to them.